Methuselah Quotients (how many fighters over 35 years old ranked top 40 per division)

From the Opetaia vs. Nyika RBR:

All top 40:

41 year old Jack
37 year old Masternak
39 year old Pérez
39 year old Cinkara
37 year old Goulamirian
36 year old Ngabu
43 year old Włodarczyk
38 year old Dorticós
41 year old Kovalev
54 year old Arslan
37 year old Makabu
36 year old Mchunu
41 year old Pulev
42 year old Pascal
38 year old Caparello
39 year old Johnson
37 year old Apochi

That is SEVENTEEN names over the age of 35. 17/40 - that's 42.5%!!! Is there another weight class with as high a Methuselah quotient?


Let's see.

Heavyweight:

37 year old Usyk
36 year old Fury
41 year old Zhāng
36 year old Hunter
36 year old Whyte
41 year old Chisora
43 year old Pulev
39 year old Joyce
45 year old Ortíz
36 year old Miller
40 year old Hysa
39 year old Wilder

12/40 - 30%


Light heavyweight:

39 year old Beterbiev
37 year old Gvozdyk
37 year old Krasniqi
38 year old Gavril
40 year old Mardenli

5/40 - 12.5%


Super middleweight:

36 year old Nelson
37 year old Ndionimu
39 year old Derevyanchenko
36 year old Bacskai
36 year old McCrory
44 year old Khurtsidze

6/40 - 15%


Middleweight:

41 year old Lara

1/40 - 2.5%


Super welterweight:

37 year old Crawford
37 year old Soro
36 year old Metcalf
36 year old García
39 year old Culcay

5/40 - 12.5%


Welterweight:

36 year old Riguccini
36 year old Avanesyan

2/40 - 5%


Light welterweight:

37 year old Yordan

1/40 - 2.5%


Lightweight:

36 year old Lomachenko
36 year old Berinchyk

2/40 - 5%


Super featherweight:

37 year old Suárez
36 year old Conceição
39 year old Román
36 year old Ogawa

4/40 - 10%


Featherweight:

38 year old Doheny

1/40 - 2.5%


Super bantamweight:

44 year old Rigondeaux

1/40 - 2.5%


Bantamweight:

38 year old Wangek
36 year old Cuadras

2/40 - 5%


Super flyweight:

37 year old González
37 year old Torres

2/40 - 5%


Flyweight:

39 year old Chauke
39 year old Nazarov

2/40 - 5%


Light flyweight:

Nobody ranked top 40 above the age of 35. (both of the South African fighters that have no age listed on BoxRec - Siseko Teyise & Mpumelelo Tshabalala - are under thirty, per other sources)

0/40 - 0%


Strawweight:

41 year old Takayama

(Abongile Jacobs and Mthokozisi Ngxaka both have no age listed on BoxRec; they're both in their mid twenties)

1/40 - 2.5%


The other sixteen weight classes have a combined 47 fighters over the age of 35 in their respective top 40 rankings (per BR and their computerized system, so taken of course with a grain of salt...but still. Anybody remotely important, ranked top 15 in a major org, ought to be in there somewhere)

47 of 640 fighters. The average Methuselah quotient for the rest of the SPORT OF BOXING aside from Cruiser is a mere 7.3% - meaning that CW is almost 6x more ancient than everybody. Hell, it's a damn sight older than even heavyweight, which surprised me.

 

More like geezerweight.

 

Cruiser has more Methuselahs than all ten divisions south of 147 - light welter, lightweight, super feather, featherweight, super bantam, bantamweight, super fly, flyweight, light fly, and strawweight - combined. (17 > 16)

 

HW (30%) skews younger than CW (42.5%)

The overall trend as you rise up in weights does hold, though. Interesting that Lara is the solitary elder statesman at MW.

 

Yep, mid-thirties is usually the hard ceiling for primes sub-lightweight. Makes it all the more impressive Takayama being in the mix performing well at over 40!

 

+2 more names at SMW, btw, if GGG and Maravilla return. Neither has officially retired despite being inactive since 2022 and 2023 respectively.